Aloha Daze

I thought about posting this – or not – for the longest time. Then it occured to me that if I can’t post articles that mean a great deal to me, then I have no business posting anything.

Those that know.. those that don’t.. pardon my absense. My lack of anything to read mirrors my mindset of not being able to put many thoughts together in a straight line as of late.

Even now, I stare at a blank screen. I’ve got a lot to say. I’ve got no idea where to start. Everything that comes to mind seems to be… insufficient to the cause.

Ok. Let me try and start somewhere.

My good friend Ken Jr., whom I met in college back in 1988, loves to go bowling. So do I. In the beginning, I’d spend some late nights – Mondays, as memory serves – watching him and the rest of his family bowl as a team. (That would be sister Kenna, mother Sharon, and father Ken Sr.) I probably spent a season or so just watching them play. Together, they played as team “Alley Cats.”

There was the occasional injury. Junior would pull a muscle, or break a bone… so he’d switch between right and left handed bowling. Or, he’d just sit out the game because one side and the other would be hurt. These things happen to any team, in any sport that involves skill, luck, and a little muscle.

As the years passed, the Alley Cats would move their game night around. Sometimes Monday nights. Sometimes Thursday nights. Sometimes both.

I began to bowl with Ken Jr. and Ken Sr., when they would head out to the bowling alley on a Saturday night, and we’d enter into Saturday night competitions, bowling for money. It was always nice to make money, of course, but it was always fun just to go bowling.

My memory on the specifics over the last several years is fuzzy. With any luck, I’ll get Ken Jr. to fill in the blanks later on a followup comment or update. In the meantime, I’ll do the best I can to remember what I can.

Things change. Time passes. Ken Jr. got married, and bowling on a team took a backseat for him for about a year or so.

After many years, Junior suggested that we join a league. Sounded like a good plan to me.

So, a new version of the Alley Cats was born. This one included Ken Jr., his wife Antonia, Ken Sr., and myself.

I’d been bowling on and off for years. Nothing serious, and nothing noteworthy. I rolled a ball. It sometimes hit pins. That was my strategy.

Then I began bowling with Junior and Senior, and found my game moving up to a new level. I began bowling using a “hook,” as opposed to a plain plastic ball, a straight line, and a prayer.

I can safely say that while my dad introduced me to the game I loved so much, it was Ken Jr. and Sr. that helped bring my bowling game up to a professional level.

In between all this bowling was not a void. Ken’s family and mine became close. Celebrations were shared. Birthdays. Anniversaries. July 4th. Christmas. New Year’s.

As time passed, and our families became closer, we continued bowling. Two seasons in a row, we would take the championship in the league we were playing.

Things change. Time passes. The families remained close. But the bowling took a backseat. The Alley Cats went, once again, into hiatus.

Several things have changed since we played our last game in a league. Ken Jr. added to his family by one, now having three children. After being laid off, I moved from Dallas, Texas to my new home on the island of Oahu, in Hawaii.

Things change. Time passed. I’d been in Hawaii for over two years. I finally returned to Dallas this past Christmas, to spend time with parents and friends, and generally catch up. I returned to my island home after spending a month in Dallas.

Thursday, January 12, 2006. Ken Jr. sends out an email to everyone. His dad was found passed out in the floor of their house. After a call to 911 and a trip to Baylor Dallas Hospital, it’s determined that Senior had a brain hemmorage. A stroke.

Change.. waits. Time slows down. Everything is in slow motion.

A week goes by.

Thursday, January 19, 2006. Ken Jr. sends another email… Ken Sr. has passed on.

Change… blinks. Time stops.

Having just spent money on a plane ticket to and from Dallas, I couldn’t afford to return again so soon. For me, the services will have to wait until I return to Dallas. In the meantime, this blog entry will be my eulogy. My small contribution to a life of a really good man.

For Ken’s family… and mine… services were planned, and attended. Ken Sr. was laid to rest on Monday, January 23, 2006.

He was buried with his bowling shoes on.

Things continue to change. Time, slowly, begins to move forward.

For those that didn’t know the man, but are looking to advance their bowling career, I offer you a simple piece of advice that Ken Sr. offered me on several occasions:

“Hit the head pin, dummy.”

RLR